Solid hardwood
floors were amongst the first in their field and their
popularity raised exponentially over the centuries. Despite the fact
that engineered and acrylic floors are now contesting the dominance of
solid hardwood floors, they still remain widely used and appreciated.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand what solid
wood floors are all about. They’re, well, just that:
solid. They’re made out of milled hardwood floor pieces and
they’re pretty much the most basic form of flooring
available.
What impresses about
solid wood floors is their wide range of
choice. You can buy both prefinished and unfinished solid hardwood
floors, they come in sizes ranging from 1/4” to
25/32” and you can further break down solid floors into three
categories: strip, plank and parquet.
Strip floors are very common these days as they’re easy to
install, remove and maintain. Most strip floors connect using lineal
groove and tongue ends, which make it easy even for someone with little
experience in DIY and installing household appliances, get the hang of
it fast.
After all, if you could connect a LEGO puzzle piece as a kid, you will
be able to connect solid wood
floor strips as well. Strip floors
usually revolve around 1.5” and 2.25” widths,
making them the least “solid” of these three
categories.
Planks are not all that different from strips. Their main
differentiation is that they have higher widths, most of them ranging
from 3” to as much as 14”.
This aspect obviously gives them several advantages (and some
disadvantages really), namely that they hold out better in harsher
environments, they’re more stable and feel more comfortable
under the foot. The downside is that having such a large width also
makes solid hardwood floor planks harder to remove.
Last but not least, parquet is completely different, in that it is
geometrical mosaic formed using smaller solid hardwood planks. Parquets
can give a home a unique look and the patterns can very well form image
identities in your work place or commercial setup.
On the downside, parquet
solid wood floors are harder to install
and even harder to remove…once you set them in,
you’d best be happy with them.
The difficulty of installing solid wood flooring really depends on
the type of floor you’re going with. The easiest choice would
be to go with a prefinished strip floor, which is easy to use, cheap
and doesn’t require a lot of extra attention after
you’ve set it in.
On the other end of the spectrum, if you’re looking for a
challenge, go with parquet, that’s bound to get your hair a
few nuances grayer.
Given the fact that solid wood flooring expand and contract in
relation to moisture and humidity, maintenance could be somewhat of a
problem if the floor was not installed properly.
Usually, a few inches of room between the wall and the actual floor
will leave room for it to expand and retract, without causing any
damage in the long run.
Did you go with a solid hardwood flooring?
Which type did you choose - strip, plank or parquet?
Did you install your solid hardwood flooring yourself?
